Yang bowed deeply to the middle-aged scholar and said, "Master Zhou."

Although Master Zhou was not considered old, the gray hair on his temples showed that he was not that young either, so he only raised his hand slightly and returned a half-salute.

Yang turned around and waved, asking Su Qingluan to come over and greet her.

Upon hearing this, Su Qingluan also bowed deeply, thinking that this was the Master Zhou that her parents had mentioned, who had an unsuccessful career in his early years and had returned to his hometown to teach.

After observing him closely, Su Qingluan felt that this man was of noble bearing. There was no trace of frustration between his brows. Instead, he was in high spirits, and there was no sign of the rumors that he had an "unsuccessful career" in his early years.

Moreover, this person's behavior was elegant and upright, which made Su Qingluan naturally think of a person whose name was well-known to her although she had never met him - if the poet Li Bai stood in front of her, he would probably look like this, right?

Perhaps sensing Su Qingluan's gaze, Master Zhou lowered his gaze to Su Qingluan and said, "This must be the eldest daughter of the Su family, right? May I ask if there is anything wrong with me? I hope you can correct me."

Su Qingluan shook her head. "It was just that looking at the Master suddenly reminded me of a line from a poem: 'Looking up to the heavens and laughing heartily, I leave the house. How can I be considered a common weed?'"

Seeing Master Zhou's eyes light up, she quickly explained, "I forgot where I saw these two lines of poetry, but for some reason, I think they suit you very well."

A look of disappointment flashed across Master Zhou's face. "It would be a great blessing to have such a master of writing."

Su Qingluan sighed: "Who wouldn't want to meet the poet Li Bai? It's a pity that he doesn't even exist in this dimension."

Yang turned around and went back to her roll-wrap stall, but she didn't stop to chat. "Master Zhou, it's a rare occasion for you to come today. Would you like to try this 'Roll of Hundred Wealths'?"

Master Zhou waved his hand quickly, "Madam Su, you're too polite. Today is my day off, so I came to look for my friend Xingzhi to meet up at Hongfu Tower. It's truly fate that we met here."

When Su Qingluan heard the words "Hongfulou", she suddenly remembered that because those two scoundrels came to extort money, she had actually forgotten that she still had things to do!

"Please allow me to take my leave!" Su Qingluan hurriedly said goodbye to Master Zhou and Mu Xingzhi, and disappeared at a trot.

Yang looked helplessly at Master Zhou and Mu Xingzhi: "Please bear with me, gentlemen. My girl has a bit of a volatile personality..."

On the other hand, Su Qingluan, who was "lively in character", knew that Manager Liang would definitely be waiting for her at "Hongfulou", and it was only noon now, so she went to the foreign merchant's shop she had just seen.

Seeing Su Qingluan coming again, the man hurriedly came forward and asked, "What would you like to see?"

This time, his actions were obviously much more enthusiastic. He skillfully opened the edges of several bamboo baskets near Su Qingluan so that she could see the goods inside clearly.

Su Qingluan was amused when she saw it: No wonder this man was so diligent in attracting customers. It turned out that the onions and carrots she had seen were still in the same condition as before, and she had hardly sold any.

It took her about half an hour to go back and forth. It seemed that these exotic ingredients were not very popular here.

Su Qingluan looked left and right, and touched, and saw pumpkin, green pepper, and cumin, a seasoning - of course, they had different names in Hu Shang's mouth, but those names were difficult to pronounce and unfamiliar, and Su Qingluan didn't remember any of them.

Thinking that she would have to buy tea later, and looking at her small body, Su Qingluan only bought one pound each of green peppers and onions, as well as two ounces of perilla leaves and one ounce of cumin.

Upon learning that Boss Hu would also open a shop tomorrow, Su Qingluan felt relieved and said, "I'll come again tomorrow." She turned around and went to the "He's Tea" that Manager Liang mentioned.

The boss, He Xing, was pacing back and forth at the door with his hands behind his back, looking out. Seeing Su Qingluan walk in, he hurried over and asked, "Is this Madam Su?"

Su Qingluan put down the food she bought and bowed: "I'm sorry, I was delayed for a while because of something."

"It's okay, it's okay," He Xing said. He Xing was indeed a friend of Shopkeeper Liang. Even their slightly plump and kind faces bore some resemblance to Liang. "Brother Liang has already sent the waiter to greet us. If the young lady likes any kind of tea, please feel free to tell her."

Su Qingluan looked around and asked, "Could you please weigh one pound of fine jasmine tea...?"

"Jasmine tea...crushed?" He Xing blinked to make sure he heard correctly. "You don't want tea leaves, you want crushed tea leaves?"

Su Qingluan nodded: "Otherwise, the tea leaves will have to be crushed, so it would be better to just buy crushed ones from the beginning."

When He Xing heard Su Qingluan say this, he became curious: "Excuse me, Miss Su, what can you do with these broken tea leaves?"

Su Qingluan smiled mysteriously: "Let's keep it secret for now. If Shopkeeper He is interested, go find the stall of 'Rolling a Hundred Wealths' in two days and you'll find out."

The broken tea leaves of jasmine tea are one of the indispensable seasonings needed for the "new product" she launched.

After hearing Su Qingluan's explanation, Shopkeeper He stopped asking questions and simply asked his servant to weigh the tea leaves. He then clasped his hands together and said, "If that's the case, I'll definitely go and join in the fun and see what's going on."

After Su Qingluan said goodbye to Manager He, she went to "Hongfulou" again.

This time, she signed a longer-term contract with Manager Liang. If she had any new dishes, she would sell them to "Hongfulou". However, "Hongfulou" only had the right to use the new recipes, but did not have the right to transfer or publish the recipes.

Therefore, everyone in the kitchen of "Hongyunlou" signed the relevant terms, and Boss Liang and Su Qingluan each kept a copy to prevent anyone from breaching the contract and seeking compensation.

The process of redrafting the terms went very smoothly this time, but Su Qingluan discovered that although Master Zhou had said that he had an appointment with Mu Xingzhi at "Hongfulou", he did not meet these two people.

Maybe they changed places? Su Qingluan thought so and breathed a sigh of relief: she really didn't want to run into Mu Xingzhi, who had witnessed her social death twice, in the short term!

After coming out of Hongfulou, Su Qingluan went to the pork shop and bought a piece of pork belly.

Pork these days is much cheaper than Su Qingluan expected, but for some reason, not as many people buy it as she thought.

Don’t these ancient people like to eat pork?

Su Qingluan didn't know at this time that, in a sense, she had revealed the truth.

After Yang packed up her stall, she looked up and saw her daughter walking towards them carrying a bunch of things, big and small.

He hurried over to take the pile from Su Qingluan.

Except for the tea leaves wrapped in paper, Yang discovered that she didn't recognize any of the things her daughter bought, except the pork.

Yang picked up a green pepper and smelled it, then picked up a few perilla leaves and sniffed them, then pinched some cumin and sniffed them, and then moved closer to the onion.

Su Qingluan quickly stopped her: "Mother, don't peel that skin off...!"

It was too late. The pungent smell of onions had already made Yang burst into tears.

"Girl," Yang asked while wiping away tears, "What are these? Why do they smell weird to me?"